Resurgence

Return

Rain
(Towards the end of Be Afraid)

As the group walked back toward Dreadfort, Rain started to feel nervous. He had been gone longer than he said he would, and he was sure that Ser Patrick would be angry.

As they approached the gates of the fort, the guards barred the entrance. Rain assumed that the guards believed that they were enemies. He doubted that they had seen him or Stella before, and the guards were currently facing a group of four undead.

"Who are you?" one of the guards asked. "What are you doing here?"

As Rain opened his mouth to explain, he heard a familiar voice call out.

"There you are," the figure called. "We could use your help right about now."

"Daryll!" Stella shouted, trying to run over to him. The guards blocked her path. Daryll waved them aside.

"Let them pass," he said. "Don't you recognize the Dragon Tamer when you see him?"

The guards backed away, looking ashamed of themselves. Stella ran forward and embraced Daryll.

"It's good to see you again," she said. "We've been gone for so long."

Rain walked over to free Daryll from Stella. He heard Kane talking to the guards, asking them about what it was like in the Frostbourn. Rain then tried to pry Stella off of Daryll.

"Let him go," he said. "It's no use greeting him if you're just going to suffocate him afterwards."

Stella released Daryll, who then reached out to shake Rain's hand.

"Welcome back," he said. "I see you've picked up some new recruits."

"Daryll, this is Kane and Ciara," Rain explained. "They are part of the Netherbane and want to help the Frostbourn."

"That's good enough for me," Daryll replied, "though Patrick might need a better explanation than that."

Rain grimaced. He really didn't want to think about Patrick right now. He quickly changed the subject.

"What did you mean earlier, when you said that you could use our help?" he asked. "Did that mean just with the war in general, or was there something specific?"

"Both, unfortunately," Daryll said, rubbing his forehead. "Yes, we could use help fighting the Nether Horde, but currently we have a bigger problem. There is an unidentified warrior in the woods that keeps killing our men."

"A Nether assassin?" Rain asked.

"We thought so too at first," Daryll told him. "But then we found a group of pigmen that were killed in that same area."

Rain frowned, trying to make sense of that. A powerful warrior that attacked both the Nether and the Frostbourn? That didn't make any sense.

"What weapons do they use?" Rain asked.

"That is another point of confusion," Daryll explained. "The warrior uses different weapons depending on who they are fighting. They seem to fight our troops using a spear, while fighting the Nether with a bow."

"How do you know there is not more than one warrior?" Rain asked. "That would explain the inconsistencies."

"Now, that wouldn't work either," Daryll explained. "The same attack patterns and strategies are used on both us and the Nether."

"That is strange," Rain replied. "Why have a preferred weapon against a specific group?"

"We have no clue," Daryll continued. "All scouts that we send to investigate are killed, and the warrior lives in a particularly dense part of the forest, preventing Lady Azura from flying in to take a look."

"I could go check it out for you," Rain offered. Daryll looked at him shocked.

"Were you not just listening to what I just said?" he exclaimed. "I just said that everyone that we sent in there was killed!"

"I can hold my own in a fight," Rain said. "Though I could go on a strictly reconnaissance mission, only fighting if necessary."

Daryll wavered, showing that he thought that Rain should go, but was following protocol by refusing.

"Patrick would never go for it," he said, sounding a little sad as he said it.

"Well, I haven't officially checked in yet," Rain observed. "I am technically still out traveling, doing who knows what."

Daryll thought about this, and smiled.

"And you could have decided to take a detour through the forest on your way back," Daryll continued. "Because you wanted a little more time outdoors."

Rain grinned as well, turning and running into the forest.

~ ~ ~

After traveling for a while, Rain finally saw signs of civilized life. A cut tree here, a crushed bush there, all of which was overlaid by the smell of smoke.

Rain followed the smell, eventually coming to a clearing in the trees. Branches from other trees still entwined overhead, hiding this place from view, but the ground was clear.

On the other side of the clearing, Rain saw a figure silhouetted against a fire. He moved in for a better look.

As he got closer, Rain saw that they were working on something. A weapon of some kind.

Suddenly, as if sunlight had penetrated the canopy, Rain could clearly make out the figure. He caught his breath. It couldn't be.

Sitting in front of him, was a young woman with ginger red hair, cleaning a homemade bow.